"Brian Lumley - E-Branch 1 - Defilers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lumley Brian)

Starside. That's how dangerous he is.
"And he escaped, got clean away . . . where to, we don't yet know, though we have evidence that
suggests he's no longer down under in Australia. But wherever he is, one thing seems certain:
finding and dealing with Malinari isn't going to get any easier the next time around. . . .
"Okay, be got away. But his people-or those poor damned souls who were once people-they didn't. We
can at least congratulate ourselves that we got that right. So we're now satisfied about as far as
we can be that the Australian continent is free of contamination. Naturally we'd like to keep it
that way, and to be absolutely sure I'll be detailing a locator, a couple of spotters, and maybe a
telepath to go back out there and pick it up where we left off. There were clues we didn't get the
opportunity to look into, and other stuff that still needs tracking down. So those of you who'll
be involved: I'm sorry for the short notice, but time is of the essence. We can no longer afford
to sit around doing nothing while three Great Vampires out of Starside are on the loose preparing
God only knows what mayhem and madness for our world.
"Very well, we'll know who's going within the next twenty-four hours, and after that the lucky
ones will have just enough time to pack before they're heading down under . . ."
Trask paused to glance at his notes, then nodded and said, "A moment ago I posed something of a
question. And it's a question that has to be in everyone's mind. Just what are Malinari, Szwart,
and Vavara up to in our world? Just what is it they're doing or planning to do? Well, we know what
they're not doing. They're not recruiting, not taking thralls or making vampires,- or if they are,
it's a small, localized, and tightly controlled industry. What I mean is, they're not spreading it
around. Not yet, anyway.
"But surely that's what they do. It's their way of life-hahl Ask any vampire and he'll tell you,
that the blood is the life!" (Trask seemed galvanized now, his eyes blazing in a suddenly ravaged
face.) "They 'live' by taking thralls, by leeching on the blood of their servitors and victims,
and by spreading death and undeath. So, why hasn't the plague come among us? I know that time
isn't of any real consequence to the Wamphyri, but they've had three years! By now

the great nations should be at war . . . even with each other! Half the population armed with
crossbows and wooden stakes, and the other half with eyes dripping sulphur, hiding in the dark,
waiting for the night. Cheap silver crucifixes selling for twice the price of gold. Noonday
bonfires in every town centre, and the sickening stench of burning varnpire flesh. And by night,
the ever-growing ranks of the thirsty ones, raping, ravaging, and making more, hunting for new
souls to toss on their bonfires-the ones that burn in hell!"
Again Trask paused to let all that he'd said sink in, and in a far more controlled, regulated
voice went on: "If I seemed to go a little over the top just then it was mainly to wake you up,
spur you on, give you something of an incentive-not that you need one, I'm sure. But it's been
three long years, people, and all that time I've sweated over information which you weren't privy
to. And now ... I think it's time you were. A burden shared, and all that. . . "So what am I
talking about? Well listen up, and I'll tell you. "When we first learned that we'd been invaded,
we knew that Malinari and the other two monsters came out of the sump at the Refuge with three
senior thralls, presumably lieutenants, which probably meant one lieutenant each. When we went
out to Romania we discovered that they'd also recruited three of our people-npt espers, no, but
Refuge staff, personnel-to take with them wherever they were going, perhaps as sustenance-Godl-but
more likely as guides in this new world. And definitely as converts, recruits, vampires.
"One of the three was Bruce Trennier, who we don't have to worry about anymore. But at the time,
that made two Lords and a Lady of the Wamphyri, three lieutenants or Wamphyri aspirants, and three
up-and-coming vampires who-depending on Starside's laws of unnatural selection-might or might not
make it into vampirism's upper echelon.
"And those were the figures we fed to our extrap computers, along with several conjectural rates
of transmission-of vampirism, that is. We were actually expecting an epidemic,- we prepared for